This invention relates generally to gardening apparatus, and more particularly to a rotary blade for use on cultivators and rototillers.
When the home gardener tills the soil the objective is usually to provide a favorable soil environment for the germination and growth of a given crop. Ideally, the best till quality is achieved when the soil is broken up or pulverized into small pieces that allow free access to air and water. The patent literature discloses various rototillers or cultivators for suitable for home garden tilling/cultivating applications, such as: U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,755,718 (Arndt), 2,847,924 (Quick), 2,864,293 (Edrich et al.), 3,123,149 (White et al.) 3,503,276 (Vigot), 3,504,748 (Croft), 4,133,390 (Reaume), and 4,421,176 (Tuggle).
Small, light-weight, gasoline or electric powered home garden tillers have, in fact, become very popular and various models employing different tine arrangements are available in the market place. One particularly effective rototiller has been sold by the Mantis Manufacturing Company of Huntingdon Valley, Pa. under the trademark MANTIS TILLER/CULTIVATOR. That device makes use of a pair of rotary blades which are driven by a gasoline powered engine so that they roll along the soil to pulverize it. Each blade comprises two, nine-tined, disk-like members secured together by a hub which serves to mount the blade on the device's axle. All nine of the tines of each blade are of generally triangular shape and define a pointed free end when viewed from the side of the blade, but are curved in unique orientations when viewed from the edge of the blade, i.e., a direction parallel to the direction of cutting, so that they are effective to knock vegetation over and push it down into the soil, breaking the up as it goes. In particular, each disk-like member of each blade includes three type of curved tines. The first type of curved tine is bent into a simple curve so that its free end curves inward toward a common plane located between the disk-like members and perpendicular to their hub. The second type of curved tine, is a tine which is bent in a compound or serpentine curve having a portion curving outward away from the common plane and a portion curving inward toward the common plane, but with its free end parallel to the common plane. The last type of curved tine, is a tine which is bent in a simple curve so that its free end curves outward away from the common plane. Each tine of each disk-like member is bent parallel to a respective bend line which extends perpendicularly to the radius extending from the central axis of the blade to the tip of the tine. The tines alternate about the periphery of the disk-like member in the order of a first first type tine, a first second type tine, a first third type tine, a second first type tine, a second second type tine, a second third type tine, a third first type tine, a third second type tine, and finally a third third type tine.
While the blades of the MANTIS TILLER/CULTIVATOR are suitable for their intended purposes, they nevertheless leave something to be desired from the standpoint of functionality.